Blackpool Council has appointed Morgan Sindall Construction’s North West business as the main contractor to build a new £65m state of the art education campus in the town centre.
The Multiversity mixed-use educational development will bring up to 3,000 students and staff into Blackpool town centre and allow Blackpool and the Fylde College to relocate from out-of-town facil-ities into a world class campus off Cookson Street in the resort.
It would be leased to the College, offering more than 70 individual courses and enhancing its existing higher education provision which is directly linked to local employment needs. The Multiversity would also support a wide range of qualifications, from further education, through to higher education and adult learning.
The proposed development would include two phases, starting with an education campus on the corner of Cookson Street and George Street, followed by future development across the southern end of the site by Milbourne Street and Grosvenor Street.
The plans would deliver up to 32,600 sqm of education space and commercial space across several phases, starting with the new Multiversity building.
The main campus building would be designed to be carbon-neutral in operation, with the surrounding area on George Street landscaped and pedestrianised to make it a safer environment for students and local people. The Multiversity has been designed by established architects Hawkins\Brown and aims to complement the rest of the Talbot Gateway regeneration.
The Multiversity is phase four of Blackpool Council’s £350m regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area around Blackpool North train station, which in total is bringing over 8,000 professional workers and students into the area.
The land for the new Multiversity is currently being acquired by Blackpool Council, with the support of a £9m Government grant while the construction was also awarded £40m from UK Government in 2023.
